Motivation
The IPCC
Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Climate Basis established that the Earth was warming, would continue to warm, and that the much of this warming was due to the activities of humans.
The 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report fundamentally changed the field of climate change research. Faced with the evidence detailed in these reports, governments, corporations, non-governmental organizations, and citizens amplified their attention and accelerated actions to respond to and to address climate change. As new members become part of the climate community, they have diverse information needs that are not met in a straightforward fashion by the same information that served scientists. These new members bring new intellectual resources, with evolved ways to use and analyze environmental information. As these actors respond to climate change, there will be broad-based need for climate information to be incorporated into resource planning, business investment, and adaptation policy. In order to support informed decision making, applied research and analysis is required. This information is required with a timeliness that is, often, far shorter than the amount of time needed for curiosity-driven scientific research. The methodologies and expertise required is far broader than those held within the scientific community. Openclimate.org strives to develop an open knowledge community that supports those seeking to address the challenges of climate change.